1 00:00:00,760 --> 00:00:06,440 Hallelujah, as far as the east is from the West, Amen. 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,680 You'll take them from us and you can't measure that. 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:13,840 Amen. We're thankful tonight for a 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:18,760 Lord that redeems and for a Lord that forgives, a man that makes 5 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:22,480 all things new, Amen. We're appreciative tonight for. 6 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:23,880 Good to see each one of you, man. 7 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:26,040 So good to see different ones, Amen. 8 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:27,960 Here, Sister Adams, good to see you. 9 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,600 Last time I seen you, you were laying in a hospital bed. 10 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,760 So it's good to see you sitting on a Pew rather than in that 11 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,200 state, Amen. We're grateful tonight for you, 12 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,600 Amen, and the kids and Tamara, It's good to see you tonight 13 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:42,360 sitting there beside Amber's. Such a great, great privilege to 14 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,480 have you in the House of Lord Amen, with us this evening. 15 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,520 Grateful and thankful for that, Amen as well. 16 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:50,640 Hallelujah. We're going to be turning to the 17 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:56,200 book of Second Chronicles. I know I like to preach from 18 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:05,880 places that that's in the Bible, Amen, Second Chronicles, Amen. 19 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:10,240 Tonight, Hallelujah. I was, I told a few people I 20 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,480 was, I was preparing for bed last night, wanted something to 21 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,360 drink, so I thought I'd have some hot cocoa. 22 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:23,840 Brother Earl Romanly drink, but sometimes I I put instant coffee 23 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:28,520 in my cocoa and most of you know that I have a little caffeine 24 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,520 sensitivity. So it's that night and I'm doing 25 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:35,240 it and I'm kind of thinking back and forth whether I should and 26 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,240 my wife says. Go on, live it up. 27 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,760 What she should have said was stay up because that's what 28 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,200 happened. Still like 2-30 something. 29 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,120 I was still awake. I listened to podcasts, I 30 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:52,640 listened to somebody preach to me. 31 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:59,680 I, you know, so whatever. Tonight, if I have caught hot 32 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,880 cocoa, it'll be decaffeinated. All right? 33 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:06,600 Amen. The second Chronicles chapter #7 34 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,560 I want to read just a few verses of Scripture there. 35 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:17,200 The Bible says now when Solomon had made an end of praying. 36 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,560 Now it's important if you were to read chapter #6 his prayer 37 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:26,960 starts about verse #12 for about 3132 verses he's been doing just 38 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,960 that. And he had made an end to 39 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:31,960 praying. The fire came down from heaven 40 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,040 and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices and the glory 41 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:38,520 of the Lord filled the house. And the priest could not enter 42 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,360 into the House of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord 43 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:45,200 had filled the Lord's house. And all the children of Israel 44 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:49,400 saw how the fire came down the glory of the Lord upon the 45 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:51,600 house. They bowed themselves with their 46 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,800 faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped. 47 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:59,000 And praise the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy 48 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:03,720 endureth forever after he made the end of praying. 49 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:12,840 The Bible says in verse #2 that that glory filled the house, and 50 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:20,280 it tells us in verse #3 children of Israel took note of how the 51 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,560 fire came down. Just for a little bit tonight, 52 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,840 when the minister simply this If you want what they had, learn 53 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:33,800 how it came. If you want what they have, 54 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:39,200 learn how it came, Amen. Can we go to the Lord in prayer 55 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,480 right here before a week of prayer, Amen. 56 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:43,480 Here at the church? Father, we thank you Jesus 57 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:45,840 today. God, for your spirit, your 58 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,200 power. God, you don't disappoint. 59 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,120 Lord, you're always on time, God, and you're mindful. 60 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,320 Lord of us, I pray, O God, let there be a fresh wind. 61 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:57,480 Lord Jesus of that glory cloud. Lord, that would fill this 62 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,440 place. We already Lord, testify God to 63 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:02,880 fill in your presence, but God let it engulf us. 64 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,240 Lord, before we leave this place tonight will not fail to thank 65 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:10,160 you and praise you God for what you accomplished in this place. 66 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,640 In the name of Jesus, I pray Hallelujah in the church say 67 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,640 Amen, Amen. You may be seated tonight in 68 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:23,200 Jesus name, in Jesus name. I think it's important tonight 69 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:28,680 to understand that the Book of Chronicles is interesting in the 70 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,240 audience that it was meant for and the people that it was 71 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,120 really written to, because there's a lot of retelling of 72 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:39,120 stories that are in the Book of Chronicles and events that had 73 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:41,680 already taken place. And it happened. 74 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:44,440 The Book of Chronicles was not written for people. 75 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,800 That was right in the middle, if you will, of experiencing some 76 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:52,360 grand revival and was on the apex, if you will, of their 77 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:54,800 life. It was written for a people that 78 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,120 were during the mode of time really of recovery in their 79 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,360 life. They, they were not, they were 80 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,840 not aimed the words of Chronicles were not aimed at a a 81 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:07,800 generation that we're witnessing in the moment that they heard 82 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,720 these words. We're not witnessing fire fall 83 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,200 from heaven. They we're not witnessing the 84 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:17,040 collapsing of priests under some glory cloud that had entered 85 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,760 into a Tabernacle or a sanctuary. 86 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:22,840 Amen. As a matter of fact, this was 87 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:27,400 written to a generation that that that knew maybe what fire 88 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:32,320 had fell in the past, but they were now looking for that fire 89 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,280 to fall. Now they were people that some 90 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:38,120 of them had never seen the fire fall. 91 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,440 The only thing that they had to go off of was the stories, many 92 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,880 of them of their grandparents, people that were kin to them. 93 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:50,000 Chronicles was written for a people who knew stories and and 94 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:51,760 the records had been preserved for them. 95 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,000 They could go back to the archives and they could read 96 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,880 through there of what occurred and what happened and they could 97 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,560 rehearse history in each other's ears. 98 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,720 But many of them didn't even personally remember the glory a 99 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,480 man that was described in those stories. 100 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:10,360 And for sure, some of them that had been in that time just had a 101 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,760 faded memory of what once was. These people that the book of 102 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,560 Chronicles, and this is important tonight, these people 103 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,200 that the book of Chronicles is written to are those that had 104 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,200 lived through the exile. It's those that had lived 105 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:29,000 through 70 years of captivity and and they're just now been 106 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,960 home for a little bit and their feet is just now touched the 107 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:36,440 dust, Amen, of Jerusalem again. And so these are people that are 108 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:39,400 hearing their history and their heritage that they've been 109 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,320 separated from for some 70 years of their life. 110 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:47,040 And whenever they left, they understand now that that they 111 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,160 lost more than land. They're they understand that 112 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,080 they lost a rhythm of life, a, a, a pattern of going to the 113 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,120 Tabernacle, a pattern of offering up sacrifices, a 114 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:01,320 pattern of doing some things in and around about the city of 115 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,160 Jerusalem. Many of them, because Jerusalem 116 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,320 was in ruins, many of them had lost a sense of identity of who 117 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:10,320 they were, what they were connected with. 118 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:14,440 They lost a sense of their confidence in any that they had 119 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:16,920 in their mind. They had lost in their 120 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,000 generation. Now they're looking backward. 121 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,760 Chronicles is looking backward. All of that's already taken 122 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,240 place and happened. And so they're looking back at a 123 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,200 loss of some of the visible signs of that. 124 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,680 Once assured them that God was among them and God was with 125 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,120 them, and God heard their voice and God heard their prayer. 126 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:39,480 Hey, man, the exile, the exile. But they were taken away into 127 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:41,960 it. It did not come because God was 128 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:45,920 unfaithful to them, but it came because a people had grown 129 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:48,920 unfaithful to God. They, they, they had become 130 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:53,120 distracted by other things. They chased other gods. 131 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,920 They, they had other longings and desires, and they were 132 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,840 fulfilling those desires and those longings and that 133 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,920 seemingly forgot God. As a matter of fact, the Bible 134 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,880 tells us in in the Word that long before Israel was ever 135 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:10,400 taken away from Jerusalem geographically, that they had 136 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,040 already wandered spiritually. Amen. 137 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,720 In their their own minds and in their own hearts, these people 138 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,000 had come to a place where they ignored God. 139 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,800 They they replaced God with their pursuit of other things. 140 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:29,800 They chased lesser loves, if you will, than the king of glory. 141 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,200 And whenever they went to Babylon, Babylon really wasn't 142 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,520 the beginning of their problem, Amen. 143 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,120 It was the consequence of their problem. 144 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,640 And yet the Bible says that God brought these people that had 145 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:46,040 forsaken him, ignored him, chased other things. 146 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,520 He brought them back home. And so now they have returned 147 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,440 home to Jerusalem and there's a sense of resolve and there's a 148 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:59,200 sense of expectation for those that had known what it once was, 149 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,400 that perhaps it will be what it once was. 150 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,520 And so they rebuild the altar and they rebuild the walls and 151 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,840 they set the gates as in the book of Nehemiah, back upon 152 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,280 their their hinges in their place. 153 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:18,240 And they even build a temple and they try a man to plod along and 154 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,920 resume with their worship. And they're bringing sacrifices 155 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,800 into the House of the Lord. And there's some mutterings of 156 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,960 prayer that take place among them. 157 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,480 And it has the appearance that everything is restored on the 158 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:32,680 surface. You know, the temples where it 159 00:09:32,680 --> 00:09:36,160 needs to be, the furnishings that they still have is where it 160 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,160 needs to be. But if they were going to be 161 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,880 honest with themselves and they were to compare with what they 162 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,240 once had, they would have to say to one another. 163 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,520 It just seemed like something was still missing. 164 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,920 It's during this time of their return home that Haggai the 165 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:56,720 prophet, he writes those words found in Haggai 2 and three and 166 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:00,920 says, who is left among you that saw this house in her first 167 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:05,040 glory? And how do you see it now? 168 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:10,920 Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? 169 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,720 He's speaking to a people that went whenever the foundation of 170 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,320 this new temple is built. The footprint of this new 171 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:22,680 temple, it has a larger footprint, but it seems to have 172 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:26,520 a smaller meaning to the people that are there here. 173 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,400 They're entering this place to worship, but the worship just 174 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:33,520 seems a little quieter, not as boisterous as it once was it. 175 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:36,600 They have a moment here. Amen. 176 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:40,400 But that moment seems to lack the weight of what they once had 177 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:42,960 in the past. Because you got to understand at 178 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,400 the building building of this new temple, they have no ark of 179 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,120 the Covenant. Now that that's long gone, that 180 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:50,920 has disappeared, that's taken away. 181 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:55,240 There's not been a visible Brother Fred Cloud that's come 182 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:59,400 down and filled this temple. There is not been fire fall from 183 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:04,200 heaven to fill the temple of the exile generation after they 184 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,800 returned home. That very Ark of the covenant, 185 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,240 that thing that years ago that was just revered as the very 186 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:16,640 presence of God, man, it was no longer, it never returned. 187 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,880 Amen to their temple after the exile. 188 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:23,360 And so there's a lot, ladies and gentlemen, some unspoken 189 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:27,120 questions in the minds of those that had been exposed to that 190 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:30,600 and in the minds of those that never knew that they got to be 191 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:34,960 asking some questions. Is God still with us the way 192 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:39,720 that he used to be with us? Is God still around? 193 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,200 Has his glory? Is it gone forever? 194 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:48,920 Or what can we do to somehow secure a former time, a former 195 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:52,800 glory, and a former place? How can we claim what 196 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:55,480 generations our grandparents told us about? 197 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:58,960 How can we have that still within the clutches of our 198 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,560 hands? Someone say, man. 199 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,360 Ladies and gentlemen, I tell you tonight that these questions are 200 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:10,920 not confined to ancient Israel, but they are painfully modern as 201 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,680 well. There are many churchgoers 202 00:12:13,680 --> 00:12:18,240 today, Amen, that know the language of that glory that has 203 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:22,240 been spoken to them by their parents and their grandparents. 204 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:25,320 But they've not always experienced the glory. 205 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:30,600 All they've had is a story, Amen, a telling, an archive, 206 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,520 something that someone can relate unto them. 207 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:37,200 There are believers today, and I'm not preaching down today, 208 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:41,720 but there are believers today who love God sincerely, and they 209 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:45,680 worship God faithfully, Amen. And they serve God every way 210 00:12:45,680 --> 00:12:49,200 that they know how to serve God. Yet there's a quiet wonder 211 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,160 inside of their spirit. Have we lost something? 212 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:56,280 Have we lost ground? Is our feet not where our feet 213 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,280 need to be? I've heard the stories, Amen. 214 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:03,840 If things take place, I've heard the testimonies of all being 215 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:06,960 packed. I've heard the stories of prayer 216 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:11,880 meetings that lasted all night, of church services that went to 217 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,920 11:00 at night, people being carried out the sanctuary 218 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,960 speaking in other tongues. I've heard moments of God's 219 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,640 presence being so thick in a place you could cut it with a 220 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,440 knife. They have to remember, Amen. 221 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:28,960 Just the stories. But they have none of those 222 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:34,240 stories personally. They know them second handed. 223 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,600 Now we send services and someone might wonder, well, it feels a 224 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:43,520 little smaller. It's, it's just a little 225 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:46,880 quieter. It's just just a little less 226 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:48,880 impressive than what I had known. 227 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:53,760 And they're, they're wondering, is something been lost and can 228 00:13:53,760 --> 00:14:03,800 it be recovered? Work with me here just a little 229 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:08,360 bit because they had their temple, they had their building, 230 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,080 it was standing. Can I preach for a little bit? 231 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:15,360 They had their function and furnishings and their programs, 232 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:21,080 but they still had no fire. I'm preaching to the modern day 233 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:22,080 church. Today. 234 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:25,800 We have bigger buildings than we ever had in Pentecost in the 235 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,520 entirety of the world, and we have more programs than there's 236 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:31,760 ever been. But if we have buildings and 237 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:37,240 programs and no fire, then we are suffering an experience. 238 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,480 Someone say, man, no fire, they didn't see it. 239 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,520 No cloud, they didn't see it. Hey, man, that that divine 240 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:51,920 nearness of God, it just felt diminished to them. 241 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:57,080 And so here's this post XL community that's in that place. 242 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:01,600 And many times even today, churchgoers find themselves in a 243 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:08,080 similar place. They come back, Brother Fred, 244 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:13,040 from a season of compromise. They come back from a season and 245 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:20,200 being distracted. Everything else had their focus, 246 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:25,040 dryness in their spirit, failure. 247 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,440 So they're trying to think, We got to, we got to rebuild some 248 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:29,240 habits. We got to. 249 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:31,160 We got to return. To some things and. 250 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,720 We got to try. Again, but they're in the 251 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:36,680 gnawing questioning of their mind. 252 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:44,160 It is, but can we ever get back there, ladies and gentlemen? 253 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,360 That's why the Book of Chronicles exists. 254 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:51,480 You read through the pages of Chronicles and. 255 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,160 It's like Deja vu, isn't it? It's like I'm reading Kings and 256 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,640 Samuel all over again. I'm reading about David and I'm 257 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:02,280 bringing about Solomon and I'm reading about the northern 258 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,400 Kingdom, the southern Kingdom. I'm reading about kings that are 259 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:07,560 good and kings that are bad. Seems like a repetition all over 260 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:11,280 again, but Samuel and Kings was really written for the purpose 261 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,120 of telling the people why the judgement was going to come. 262 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,160 But Chronicles is telling us that there's hope after the 263 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:21,200 judgement came, there's hope after exile. 264 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,240 It's the same stories, Brother Fred, but it's to a different 265 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,600 audience. It's an audience that had once 266 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,160 left and now are coming back, trying to find their way. 267 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:34,920 That's who Chronicles is written to. 268 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,840 The book makes clear you can read of it in Second Chronicles 269 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:41,680 36. It makes clear in verses 22 and 270 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:46,880 23 that this book of Chronicles was written after the Babylonian 271 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,960 captivity. And so that means the original 272 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:54,440 readers and audience of this book were Jews who had been back 273 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,000 in Jerusalem for almost a century, for almost 100 years, 274 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,520 people that had lived through the rebuilding Amen of 275 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,200 Nehemiah's era. They're no longer enslaved. 276 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,960 They're no longer under the cruel hand of Babylon, but 277 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,880 they're still on the journey. They're still on the search. 278 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,359 They're no longer exiles, but they're still asking some 279 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:17,920 questions in their hearts and their minds. 280 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,560 I declare to you tonight. One scholar even said that the 281 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:26,920 returned exiles felt a strong desire to revive as much as 282 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:31,200 possible the old status quo of the community that they once 283 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:34,160 had. Another one said that they tried 284 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:36,400 to bolster their hopes. Amen. 285 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:40,560 To try to bring back a remembrance of the old glory 286 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:44,680 that they had a former days. In other words, Chronicles was 287 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:49,920 written for a people who knew what used to be, but we're 288 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:52,880 afraid that it would never be again. 289 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,760 That's why when we read Chronicles, there's some things 290 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:04,080 that Chronicles leaves out that Kings and Samuel had. 291 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:09,680 Because the purpose is trying to steer up into the minds of the 292 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:16,040 audience how what they are looking for is missing, how that 293 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,120 all came to begin with. That's the reason why you see 294 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:23,520 Chronicles as emphasizing the temple so heavily. 295 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,800 That's the reason why you read in Chronicles like first 296 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:29,320 Chronicles 10 through 19. It's talking about the 297 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:33,280 preparation for the temple Amen. The the preparation that David 298 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,200 made that he never seen the temple but he prepared for. 299 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,880 That's the reason why in Chronicles you read here Solomon 300 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,200 superintending the construction of the temple Amen. 301 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,480 In the scripture dedicating the temple Amen, kings are 302 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,080 evaluated. The rest Amen of Chronicles 303 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:50,760 kings are evaluated and again, it's history. 304 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,240 But how they respond, or how they don't respond to the, the 305 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:58,360 temple, the Chronicles audience needed to understand, Amen, that 306 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:02,000 there are some things that must be in place, Amen, to experience 307 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,840 that cloud in that fire. Because now again, they're 308 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:10,000 living in a generation. They have no ark, no fire, no 309 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:12,520 cloud. They don't even have a king. 310 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,560 They don't have a king. There's not a David, there's not 311 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:21,640 a Solomon, there's not a Zedekiah. 312 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:24,480 They're living under the the auspices of prophets. 313 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:26,640 Amen. There is no king. 314 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,080 And so the unavoidable question of their generation. 315 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,120 Is what do we still have access to? 316 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,400 If I don't have all of this, what do I have access to? 317 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,760 Folks, the answer is, and I'm teeing up the ball for this 318 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:58,960 week, just stay with me here for a bit. 319 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:04,680 The answer is they couldn't control not having an arc, it 320 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:06,760 seems like. It's not as though they could 321 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:11,040 just yell fire come down. It's not as though they could 322 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,680 just put a man in kingship of the David Kingdom, no? 323 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:20,680 But what they still had access to was prayer. 324 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:29,200 Just I want to take you just on a little journey I'm trying of 325 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,680 the importance of this to the children of Israel through their 326 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:38,160 history of how and why and when glory and fire and cloud showed 327 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:42,800 up in their history. I'm not going to if someone get 328 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:45,520 nervous about me preaching. Long, OK, Hey, man, but. 329 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,160 Whenever you see them through their wilderness journeys. 330 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,240 Hey man, having left Egypt trying to get to their promised 331 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:54,840 land through their wilderness journeys, God spoke to them and 332 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:56,520 he says I'm going to be with. You as a. 333 00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:58,600 Matter of fact, I'm going to lead you. 334 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:02,960 How so, Lord? He told them in Exodus 13, he 335 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,400 said there will be a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of 336 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,800 fire by night. That pillar of cloud by day. 337 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:15,720 As you're travelling through the day, that cloud will be, if you 338 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,600 will, a covering to you it will be seemingly Amen to to relieve 339 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:21,400 the heat, if you will, from the sun. 340 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:25,160 But when night time falls, it will be a pillar of fire by 341 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:27,920 night. It'll give you warmth along that 342 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:31,120 desert floor. You're going to see that light 343 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,640 of the fire, and you're going to see that cloud. 344 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:38,320 These were not just imaginary images of the presence of God. 345 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,600 These were visible images of the presence of God. 346 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:44,640 And when the cloud moved, the people moved. 347 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,560 And when the fire rested, the people rested. 348 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,920 God was among them. He was leading them and He was 349 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,600 directing them. And the Bible says when that 350 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:58,400 Tabernacle in the wilderness was finished and all of its 351 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:02,840 construction in Exodus 40, the Bible says that there was a 352 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:07,600 cloud that covered it, and the glory of the Lord filled that 353 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,760 house. And that night the fire rested 354 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,880 upon it, and there was a message clear for Israel. 355 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:18,040 God is dwelling among you. They saw it. 356 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,320 They witnessed it with their very own eyes. 357 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,280 The Bible says in the book of Leviticus chapter #9 that Moses 358 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,320 and Aaron would even come out and bless the people. 359 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:32,960 We think of blessing the people. Some little, you know, closing 360 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,960 word upon the people know a blessing is a prayer. 361 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:37,960 They came out and blessed the people. 362 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,400 It was an act of prayer over the people. 363 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,520 And the Bible tells us in Exodus 9, verse 23, that immediately 364 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,840 after that blessing, that prayer, that the glory of the 365 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,760 Lord appeared and fire came out from before the Lord. 366 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:56,360 And it assume the offering on the altar because the prayer as 367 00:22:56,360 --> 00:23:01,400 it were there preceded the fire and it preceded the glory. 368 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:05,000 And then when we turn to where we've been reading in the Book 369 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,360 of Chronicles, the pattern is unchanged. 370 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:13,160 In the Temple of Solomon, the Bible says in chapters 3 and 371 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,800 four, there is this completion of the temple. 372 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,640 Every precise detail has been finished. 373 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,080 Every measurement has been recorded. 374 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:24,680 All the furnishings are accounted for. 375 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:30,840 Nothing seems to be missing except for the priests that's 376 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:34,080 carrying the last piece of furniture, the Ark of the 377 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:39,800 covenant, for a priest got that upon their shoulders. 378 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:47,040 They're ushering that ark in its proper place, the holies of 379 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:53,040 holies, and the Bible says when they place it there that a cloud 380 00:23:54,560 --> 00:24:01,240 fills the house so powerfully that the priest could not stand 381 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:05,600 to minister. The ark in its proper place 382 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:12,080 brought a glory cloud. But in 2nd Chronicle 6, 383 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:20,080 Solomon's taken a. Long time praying son. 384 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:24,000 He is praying. And praying and praying. 385 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:29,360 And at the beginning of our attacks, he finally finished 386 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:33,000 praying. And please don't hear me 387 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,280 tonight. Solomon is praying publicly, not 388 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:41,120 privately. He's praying audibly, not 389 00:24:41,120 --> 00:24:45,280 silently. He's praying extensively, not 390 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,560 preaching, not briefly. You read, you go home tonight, 391 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,680 your homework, go home, read Second Chronicles chapter #6 you 392 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:54,400 want to read what Solomon's praying about? 393 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:58,600 He's praying about forgiveness. So he's praying about 394 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,840 repentance. He's praying about God. 395 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,440 If there's a drought and we turn our face toward this place and 396 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:07,480 pray, you will hear us. He's praying about defeat, that 397 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,000 when the enemies would conquer us and overcome us, and we, we 398 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,480 need to go to war. It won't be our shield or our 399 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,080 sword, But if we go to prayer, he's praying. 400 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,680 Can I tell you that He's even praying about the captivity that 401 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:26,400 they were going to go through? You read in verses 36 and 39. 402 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,960 He says, God, if the enemy would come and drag us away from this 403 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:34,080 land and this place, but if your people even in that situation 404 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,640 would lift up their voice and pray. 405 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,360 He prayed about national sin. He prayed about personal sin. 406 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,720 This is included in Chronicles, and God's included as though God 407 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:53,040 knows that one day there'll be a people reading these words, 408 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:58,160 living without the fire and living without the cloud. 409 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:07,920 And yet when Solomon, this is history. 410 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:13,360 This is history that somebody in that generation coming through 411 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:17,160 the exile needs to hear. Yet when Solomon finished that 412 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:22,360 32 verse prayer, he ended his prayer. 413 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:33,840 He finishes it that then the fire fell from heaven and there 414 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:39,360 was a cloud of glory that filled this temple again, so much so 415 00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:44,120 that the priest could not even enter the building to minister. 416 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,400 Please, I want to note something, just want to know 417 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,240 something for us tonight. Solomon finished praying. 418 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:57,640 He didn't quit praying. Someone's not hearing me right 419 00:26:57,640 --> 00:26:59,480 now. I think some of us pray and 420 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,040 quit, but we don't pray and finish. 421 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:09,240 He finished praying. Look what happens whenever the 422 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:13,920 ark of God, God in his proper place, cloud filled it, whenever 423 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:18,160 prayer had its proper praise. Fire filled it. 424 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,240 What we going to do in the post exile generation? 425 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:25,920 Because when you have cloud, when you have fire, there are 426 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:28,880 two manifestations. It's what God let his people 427 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:33,280 with two manifestations that had the same reality that God was 428 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:38,800 among his people. Hey man, he's telling us that 429 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:42,840 even in the temple, God's telling us when you make room 430 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:48,800 for me. When you make roof for me, the 431 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,800 clouds going to show up and the fire's going to fall. 432 00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:59,040 When you make what's happened, though, it went. 433 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,760 From a pillar of cloud by day to fire by night that led them. 434 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,960 Now they're in a different relationship and era of time 435 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:06,160 with God. Amen. 436 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,760 In Solomon's day, they're not following the cloud. 437 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,080 They're not following Amen fire at this moment. 438 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,280 They're inviting the cloud. They're inviting the fire. 439 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:21,960 Someone say man, I got to hurry. So the chronicle the. 440 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:26,360 Chronicler draws the attention of the people. 441 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:28,720 I believe us. I believe those that had went 442 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,160 through the exile. There's a single phrase that I 443 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:35,200 think that will matter deeply to them and to us in verse #3 And I 444 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,760 pointed out to you when we started and. 445 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:43,120 When all the children of Israel saw everybody say how? 446 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:50,240 How the fire came down. What are you saying? 447 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:52,680 I'm telling you tonight, folks, they weren't just there 448 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:57,040 witnessing this event, but the children of Israel were, were 449 00:28:57,040 --> 00:28:58,920 discerning the pattern that's happening here. 450 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:05,160 They, they weren't just seeing that fire came down, but they 451 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:09,240 saw how it came down. In other words, they're they're 452 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:13,240 picking up on a sequence here. They're picking up on a cause 453 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:18,400 and effect. God's, God's covenant, his ark 454 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,800 got in a place. We made room for God. 455 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,680 The cloud came. We put God in his place through 456 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:28,760 prayer, and the fire came. And so they begin to connect. 457 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,680 There's a connection, A cause and effect, that the fire came 458 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:36,240 and it's connected then to the prayer that was prayed. 459 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:38,480 They're starting to make a connection. 460 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:43,040 It's a realization that the generation of exiles needed 461 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,520 because listen. Brother Fred, they don't have an 462 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:52,920 ark, They don't have an ark to put in it's place, but they 463 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:55,240 still have the ability to have prayer. 464 00:29:55,240 --> 00:30:00,200 That's good. The furnishing of that old box 465 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,240 of gold. They don't have a hand on it, 466 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:05,760 but they still can have a hand on prayer. 467 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:08,040 Nobody listen to this pastor tonight. 468 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:12,840 Nobody can take your prayer. Nobody can take your prayer 469 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,040 life. It cannot disappear unless you 470 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:17,480 issue it away. No. 471 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,840 No, nobody, no, no. Someone say hey man. 472 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:32,760 Nobody, nobody can take that. The arcs gone, it can't be 473 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,960 replaced, but prayer, it's still function the same way. 474 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:38,320 What did that mean then for these exiles? 475 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:43,520 No fire and have no cloud. It means hope is not lost to 476 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:47,120 them because they still have the ability to pray. 477 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:49,760 That's the reason. Listen to me tonight, folks. 478 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,520 That's the reason. Later in 2nd Chronicle 7 and 479 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:58,440 verse 14, you read these words. These are not in Samuel's book 480 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,640 and these are not in King's book, but the Chronicle. 481 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:06,080 The chronicler had to include them in this space for people 482 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:09,320 who have been exiled. That is wondering, can we have 483 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:11,240 the? Appearance that generations ago 484 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:14,760 Hack and the Chronicle recorded what God said. 485 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:20,320 He said If my people, which are called by my name, will humble 486 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:24,200 themselves and pray, then I'll hear from Helen. 487 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:28,960 I'll heal their land. You know what he's telling them 488 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,680 to the pen of history. He's telling them if you want 489 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,800 what they got, you got to learn how it came. 490 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:40,080 And it came by prayer. If my people will pray, you'll 491 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,040 have what they had. If my. 492 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:03,680 You'll see that in Kings God spoken, but it wasn't recorded 493 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:05,560 there, it's recorded in Chronicles. 494 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,440 Because people are going to be frustrated with the experience 495 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:13,200 they had when they got back. Wanted to know. 496 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:19,240 How do we get back? There, it's not a, it's not a 497 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:26,760 sentiment, Brother Mason. It's an instruction without 498 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:31,520 saying you don't have the ark, you don't have the king, but you 499 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:35,880 still have access to me through prayer. 500 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,800 I know you're still tending to some of the bruising and the 501 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,920 woundings of your captivity, and you feel long forsaken, 502 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:47,440 forgotten. Part of that's your fault. 503 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:54,280 And why you're crying over what the glory of the Second Temple 504 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,680 looks like. If you can just get re 505 00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:01,160 acquainted with prayer, the glory of this ladder house will 506 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:09,120 be greater than the glory I never realized. 507 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:10,800 Folks. This is too common for 508 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:12,480 everybody. Everybody here knows how to 509 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:13,640 pray. Has the greatest prayer life 510 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,320 there ever was but I'm here to tell you tonight I know the 511 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,560 adversary and there's one thing that he fights everybody in this 512 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:22,040 building on tooth and nail including the one behind this is 513 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,800 about your personal time and making room for God every day 514 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,800 and the reason why is because he knows the efficiency and the 515 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,360 effectiveness of it in this world and in the Kingdom beyond 516 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,520 the. Sky Amen in the world that is 517 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:36,520 spiritual. You want to know why he doesn't 518 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:38,560 want you to pray? Because he doesn't want your 519 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:41,200 lost family to be saved. You want to know why he doesn't 520 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:43,320 want you to pray. He doesn't want those in the 521 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:45,480 hospital to come out with a. A good report. 522 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,520 You want to know why he doesn't want you to pray? 523 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:49,400 He wants your family to fall apart. 524 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:51,600 You want to know why he doesn't want you to pray? 525 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:56,120 Because when you pray, you join in partnership of power of a 526 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,240 yes. Because he knows if they pray, 527 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:06,080 the fire will fall if they pray, the cloud will enter the house 528 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:07,080 If they pray. Oh. 529 00:34:13,350 --> 00:34:27,239 Yes, someone say, man, I'm telling you this tonight because 530 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:31,520 I'm telling you tonight what we need access to this week. 531 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:37,800 There's not a bigger building. Fresh paint colors or the finest 532 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:40,440 carpet. What we need access to this 533 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:46,800 week, we all have access to. We're not sending mental mouth 534 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,080 over here and saying, well, if we had what that church over 535 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:55,199 there had concerning all of the dimensions and fineries and 536 00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:58,240 fabrics and all that stuff's OK if you have the ability to do 537 00:34:58,240 --> 00:35:01,400 it. But listen, if you have none of 538 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:06,840 that, but you have prayer, the thing fire that falls over there 539 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,200 will fall here. No. 540 00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:17,480 Just share with a minute and this is again for exercise. 541 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,960 You got it for me since last year, starting March, this is 542 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:23,600 Thursday night prayer meeting around the church. 543 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,800 And this was based upon the average attendance of the year 544 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:29,200 2024. This is the prayer. 545 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,200 How many, what the percent of FAC shows up for Thursday night 546 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,000 prayer each Thursday? That's the graph. 547 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:41,920 If you can't read it, 39 percent, 35 percent, 35 percent, 548 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:50,400 41 percent, 31 percent, 292935414531 percent, 31%, What 549 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:52,040 do you say? And I think that's tremendous, 550 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:52,960 folks. Don't get me wrong. 551 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:55,920 I think that's tremendous. But I think we can bump it up in 552 00:35:55,920 --> 00:36:00,920 2026. We'll bump it up. 553 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:02,760 But Brother James, I'm not sitting around. 554 00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:04,640 How do we get back to I know how to get there. 555 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:08,960 I'm not sitting around. We're not sitting around having 556 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:10,440 a committee meeting trying to figure it out. 557 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:12,560 The committee meetings already been had with the word. 558 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:20,680 It's totus whenever people pray, and there's tongues and 559 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:23,480 interpretation in the prayer room when people pray. 560 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:25,560 And people's dancing and shouting in the prayer room. 561 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:27,640 Oh, Brother McGee, that was then. 562 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:34,960 No, it don't have to be when people pray and they receive the 563 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:37,200 Holy Ghost in the prayer. Room, Yeah. 564 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:43,560 Yeah, yeah, because when you finish, the fire falls. 565 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:45,920 When you finish the glory, cloud enters. 566 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,880 I'm here to tell you today we are living in a horrid 567 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:50,920 generation. And we don't need to be living 568 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:53,320 with less glory. We need to be living with more 569 00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:55,160 glory. We don't need to be living with 570 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,800 a artificial fake fire. We need to be living with the 571 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:03,360 Holy Ghost and fire. We if we want what they had, we 572 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:05,160 got to learn. How it came? 573 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:19,880 Yes. Don't you think Elijah learned 574 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:21,840 this on a mount called Carmel of all places? 575 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,120 On that mount called Carmel was not a temple unto God. 576 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:30,520 On that mount called Carmel was no ark of the covenant unto God. 577 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:33,960 Matter of fact, on that, that mount called Carmel, there was a 578 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,320 lot of Pagan and hedonistic things going on. 579 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:44,400 But a man uttered a prayer, and the word was spoken. 580 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:51,160 The God that answers by fire, let him be God. 581 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:56,120 He was looking for fire, so he went to prayer. 582 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,440 Can you hear me? He was looking for fire. 583 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:04,200 He knew the answer. I'm going to go to prayer. 584 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:09,280 And there were there where there was no temple, no altar, none of 585 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:11,400 that happening where a man started praying. 586 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:14,760 The fire fell. It licked up the water that was 587 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:17,600 poured on the sacrifice. It licked up the sacrifice. 588 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,080 It licked up the wood. It licked up the water that was 589 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:21,840 in the through around about the altar. 590 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:25,200 All because one man said, you know what, I've had enough of 591 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:26,960 this. I'm going to start doing some 592 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,200 praying. And there was a whole generation 593 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:33,680 of people, a false prophets, 400 prophets of the Grove, 450 of 594 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,640 the bell, that were defeated in one prayer meeting. 595 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:48,240 Can I just Old Testament thing? It's our roots. 596 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:55,680 It's our roots. Everybody wants to talk to me. 597 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:58,080 I've had someone in the community one time, they're 598 00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:00,680 doing some of the historical things of different 599 00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:03,880 denominations and churches and said, Pastor McGee, you might 600 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:06,160 want to get on right, a little bit of that, put it in our 601 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,600 history Uptown. He says, you know, you could, 602 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:11,800 you guys can probably go back, you know, to Topeka, KS and you 603 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,840 know, and go back maybe over to Azusa Street. 604 00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:16,800 I said, no, Sir. I said, we can go further than 605 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:22,160 that. I said we go back further than 606 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:26,280 Azusa, We go back further than nineteen O 3 and 19 O2. 607 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:28,440 We go further back than nineteen O 6. 608 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:30,760 I said we go all back to the upper. 609 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:33,680 Room. You can take us all the way 610 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:42,320 back, and in that upper room we're 120 Jesus's own mother 611 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:46,800 Mary, some of the disciples, and for seven to 10 days. 612 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:51,120 What are they doing? They are praying, and that's 613 00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:53,880 chapter #2 and verse #1 tells us. 614 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:58,680 And suddenly there was a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty 615 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:01,920 wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, 616 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:06,120 and there appeared unto them cloven tongues. 617 00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:11,360 Like cast fire and it felt, what are you saying, honey? 618 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:14,680 We were born in the fire. We're maintained by the fire. 619 00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:19,800 And I plan on exiting this place someday by fire and the fire 620 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:25,440 comes by prayer. If you want what they had, learn 621 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:45,880 how they came to them. Hey man, all these ladies have 622 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,200 been doing spiritual talking about spiritual warfare in the 623 00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:50,840 back. Listen, there's not one devil 624 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:53,160 afraid somebody that doesn't pray. 625 00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:02,000 The devil doesn't care about Paul Mcgee's name Whenever Paul 626 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:03,600 McGee isn't submitted in prayer to God. 627 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,880 There are no flesh that could ever handle any devil. 628 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:18,760 Did you get a man that submitted to God in prayer and a man that 629 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,400 knows how to use the name of God in prayer? 630 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:29,240 The devil believes in one God and even trembles so. 631 00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:33,160 What would happen exponentially if I prayed? 632 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:37,040 Brother Fred prayed this week, and then Brother Fred prayed and 633 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:40,560 Sister Angie prayed this week. And as she's praying, Brother 634 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:43,600 Tat's praying this week. And as he's praying over here, 635 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:46,720 Erica was praying this week. And as she was praying, Sister 636 00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:48,240 Rhonda and Mike was praying this week. 637 00:41:48,240 --> 00:41:51,000 And as they were praying, the Trouts were praying this week. 638 00:41:51,240 --> 00:41:53,120 Honey, you can get in the Army together. 639 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:55,400 That's in rank with the. Power of God. 640 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:59,160 There's not a devil in hell and quite a perimeter around here 641 00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:04,200 because the fire is. The fire will be falling and the 642 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:05,960 cloud will be pervasive. Oh yes, you don't. 643 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:22,240 Care, am I doing OK? Just got to get back to it. 644 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:28,960 Just get back to it. But I got all this going on. 645 00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:31,240 It's OK. It's all right. 646 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:34,480 Don't try to fix it. Just get back to praying. 647 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:36,040 Praying. We'll fix it. 648 00:42:37,720 --> 00:42:40,800 And if it don't, it'll give you the willpower to withstand it. 649 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:49,560 Listen, I'm not using prayer as a Band-Aid tonight. 650 00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:51,840 And a prayer, just no, no, no. But I'm telling you there is 651 00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:53,680 power in it. And don't knock it till you 652 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:55,480 tried it. Don't knock till you engaged 653 00:42:55,480 --> 00:43:00,840 with it. You hear me? 654 00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:07,280 We were just talking about the other night attacking Rebecca. 655 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:10,240 My wife and I was power attorney for someone. 656 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:14,000 Things were just getting ugly. Wasn't a family member of ours. 657 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,760 We were they were just chosen to be a power attorney for someone. 658 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:19,280 Look like we was going to have to get guardianship, going to 659 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:21,440 have to go to court. Didn't really want to do that. 660 00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:23,440 That's kind of but twitch in between. 661 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:25,200 Didn't know what to do, want to do what was right. 662 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:30,440 And I've been over my office that morning and been praying. 663 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:34,800 Let's go to court that day. I've been praying. 664 00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:38,080 I picked up my Bible. Two things go very good 665 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:39,440 together. Prayer in your Bible. 666 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,360 I was praying that year. I was reading the message 667 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:48,000 version of the Bible. I picked it up. 668 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:49,240 I believe it was in the book of name. 669 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:53,880 And the first words that I read for my daily reading that was 670 00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,960 set up for that day was these words. 671 00:43:57,360 --> 00:44:04,640 Take your stand in court. You can call back coincidence 672 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:06,600 and you call it well. Isn't that neat? 673 00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:12,000 I'm telling you that when you pray, fire falls. 674 00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,880 We went to that court that day with no one else showing us up, 675 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:18,720 no one else showing up except us. 676 00:44:18,720 --> 00:44:23,720 Now you can just say, oh, you know, the plan has just found a 677 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:26,360 lament for you that day. Good karma? 678 00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:35,080 No Good God. Well, two years ago when we were 679 00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:38,440 evangelizing and preaching a man up in the, the, the, the the 680 00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:42,840 Pennsylvania area, my wife and I was staying with a couple from 681 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:44,800 that church and we were in the upstairs. 682 00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:47,320 And I can't remember if you were pregnant or not at Canada. 683 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:50,240 It doesn't really Amen. If it was, it gets all foggy. 684 00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:52,200 Amen. But none the less, we were there 685 00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:55,600 and you had to go downstairs to to in order to get the comfort 686 00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:56,560 station. All right. 687 00:44:56,600 --> 00:45:00,160 And and and it was during the dead of night and my wife had 688 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:02,880 went downstairs and and she came back up. 689 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:06,080 I went downstairs, came back up. She started feeling sick and it 690 00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:09,240 just almost felt we're in this room unbeknown to us, and it 691 00:45:09,240 --> 00:45:12,360 felt like something just heavy laid across both of us. 692 00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:16,720 That old song came to mind, that Sister Roberta used to sing. 693 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:21,280 One night where I was sleeping, I feel a presence in my room. 694 00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:25,040 I looked up at the end of my bed and there stood Mr. Gloom. 695 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:29,360 He tried to put his spirit on me, his fear on me. 696 00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:33,040 What's it say? But I heard him talk to weep. 697 00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:37,080 I spoke the name of Jesus and I went right. 698 00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:40,760 Back to sleep, we felt that thing just come up over on top 699 00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,360 of us. I grabbed her hand, she grabbed 700 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:47,680 mine, and we begin to pray in the name of Jesus. 701 00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:51,320 And it wasn't long that the indentation on that blanket 702 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:54,720 arose and got up and fled. Folks that doesn't. 703 00:45:54,720 --> 00:45:58,080 Happen Amen. Unless you have a little talk 704 00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:01,240 with Jesus. But even furthermore, you need a 705 00:46:01,240 --> 00:46:04,160 relationship. In that talk you need. 706 00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:15,160 Hear me, we want the emergency kit prayer. 707 00:46:19,720 --> 00:46:21,120 Break the glass, get out the axe. 708 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:26,840 We're going to use it today. But what you need is a 709 00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:29,960 relationship with God. Because when you have a 710 00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:33,360 relationship with God and you call on Him, you don't have to 711 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:38,360 worry about reintroducing yourself, let's say. 712 00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:41,480 Well Lord, I know it's been 6 months, but I'm in the fix right 713 00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:43,360 here and I really need some help right now. 714 00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:46,040 Just in case you forgot, my name's Paul McGee and I live at 715 00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:48,840 732 Vicklin St. and I got two kids, boy and a girl, and I'm 716 00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:51,120 trying to get all out because I need some help. 717 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:54,520 Honey, whenever you have a practice of prayer, you just say 718 00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:56,960 it's me, Lord you. See where I'm at? 719 00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:25,080 We're doing OK. Oh man, I've been up here for a 720 00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:29,520 while, haven't I? Praise God what I learned from 721 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:31,720 Scripture. The pattern never changes. 722 00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:36,400 Prayer is always the primer for the fire. 723 00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:40,240 For the cloud, prayer is always the primer. 724 00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:48,560 Folks, we could do some prayer this week and yes, I'll have 725 00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:51,480 some prayer guides as far As for each focus. 726 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:55,480 And I know how it is because those prayer guides you 727 00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:59,840 typically just the front and the back and sometimes maybe you 728 00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:03,200 just read right through that. I'll tell you tonight how I 729 00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:06,880 tried to approach those guides. Those guides are just like an 730 00:48:06,960 --> 00:48:14,040 outline to inspire my thoughts whenever I'm reading about the 731 00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:19,600 First Apostolic Church on Wednesday and I read about the 732 00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:26,640 elders and the widows, the names of Angie Craig and Margaret 733 00:48:26,640 --> 00:48:30,320 Garrett and Joella Jessup. And their health. 734 00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:33,920 Issues come to the tip of my tongue. 735 00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:37,280 I'm not just saying touch the elders, but I'm talking about 736 00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:42,280 Sister Angie's Craig's COPD, who has been house ridden for years 737 00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:47,240 now, hardly ever leave in her home, but she's a Apostolic 738 00:48:47,240 --> 00:48:50,880 warrior on Facebook and she's an encourager of souls. 739 00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:55,480 I use that as an outline for my prayers. 740 00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:58,480 Brother Tag showed up in our in our Connect group here the other 741 00:48:58,480 --> 00:48:59,920 night. He brought a few of the old 742 00:48:59,920 --> 00:49:02,840 spiritual warfare books. We Bishop passed them out a year 743 00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:06,080 ago and Tag had a few of them. Some people took them. 744 00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:08,240 I bought about 25 this past week. 745 00:49:08,240 --> 00:49:11,080 Thought he made mention of it was a great idea tag. 746 00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:13,520 He meant we'll have prayer guides, but we'll have these out 747 00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:15,760 here too. If you want 1, you can take one. 748 00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:19,080 It's in there praying the armor of God, praying the Lord's 749 00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:22,480 Prayer, binding and losing spiritual things all just right 750 00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:24,840 here. Again, if you just use it as a 751 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:27,440 guide. Whenever I start to read, don't 752 00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:30,120 be on the defense, but on the offense, invade the devil's 753 00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:34,000 territory, I stop and I'm like devil, we've had enough. 754 00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:36,400 There's no weapon. I start quoting scripture. 755 00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:40,840 There's no weapon formed against us as a church, as an individual 756 00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:43,120 that shall prosper. This is our heritage. 757 00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:46,760 When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord 758 00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:48,760 will raise up a standard against you. 759 00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:54,600 Greater is he that's within me than he that's within the world. 760 00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:57,040 I cast a bloodline on this church. 761 00:49:57,360 --> 00:49:59,440 I cast a bloodline on these families. 762 00:49:59,720 --> 00:50:02,640 I cast I. Use it as an outline. 763 00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:14,360 You want to pray for FAC. You write down everybody's name 764 00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:17,400 in the church. Honey, you start praying for 765 00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:19,920 everybody name, new or old in this church. 766 00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:25,760 And you pause and you pray about what you do know, and maybe 767 00:50:25,760 --> 00:50:27,960 things you sense in the Spirit. That you don't know. 768 00:50:29,240 --> 00:50:33,080 You know what happens in prayer. You don't talk to God, you don't 769 00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:37,360 just talk to God, but as you as you go, you'll find out he'll 770 00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:38,360 start talking to you. That's. 771 00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:51,080 The reason why, however long ago when you Mother Mason was having 772 00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:54,920 one of his meniere deals, I was praying that morning. 773 00:50:55,600 --> 00:50:57,400 Spirit of intercession hit this little boy. 774 00:50:58,440 --> 00:51:00,000 Groanings that could not be uttered. 775 00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:03,680 I'm telling you, I couldn't put words together in English, but I 776 00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:06,000 could pray in the Spirit and I could cry. 777 00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:08,640 He was on my mind. While all of that was taking 778 00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:10,720 place. I left that place of prayer, 779 00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:13,440 started walking into the kitchen, and honey, it just hit 780 00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:15,600 me like a brick. I went down, up on the seat and 781 00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:18,280 started all over again. And Brother Mason came out of 782 00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:21,000 that in a decent QuickTime. I checked with Sister Roberta in 783 00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:22,600 a decent quick amount. What's going on? 784 00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:25,640 I'm saying when you get in touch with God, hey man, He can 785 00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:28,440 entrust things with you because he know he's not going to have. 786 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:30,480 To wait a week until you do something about it. 787 00:51:30,720 --> 00:51:32,400 You'll do it then you'll do it the next day. 788 00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:44,280 You'll do it the day after. Stand with us, stand with us. 789 00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:46,880 I don't want to. I'm throwing glasses around. 790 00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:55,050 I break readers all the time. Hallelujah. 791 00:51:58,610 --> 00:52:01,330 I just can't do that. My mind is all deranged and I 792 00:52:01,570 --> 00:52:05,770 just got so many thoughts. He'll keep them in perfect 793 00:52:05,770 --> 00:52:08,960 peace. Whose minds has stayed on him? 794 00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:12,880 You got mind problems? Pray. 795 00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:18,720 Well, it seems like you're just. Preaching a real. 796 00:52:18,720 --> 00:52:21,040 Simple thing that if we just pray some of these matters just 797 00:52:21,040 --> 00:52:24,600 take care of. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm 798 00:52:24,600 --> 00:52:26,760 saying. That's that, that's it. 799 00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:34,520 That's it. Man, I feel the Holy Ghost right 800 00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:41,880 here. So the Chronicle, the Chronicle 801 00:52:41,880 --> 00:52:48,040 is writing for a generation that was going to need to hear that 802 00:52:48,040 --> 00:52:49,560 if you want the. Glory that you heard. 803 00:52:49,560 --> 00:52:52,480 About and what some of you maybe even experienced 7 plus years 804 00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:56,840 ago, then you got to make room for God and you don't have an 805 00:52:56,840 --> 00:53:00,960 altar or you don't have an art to do that with, but you can do 806 00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:06,520 it through and by your prayers. There might be some sitting 807 00:53:06,520 --> 00:53:08,280 here. And I said, yeah, in some 808 00:53:08,280 --> 00:53:10,840 respects of certain things in my spiritual life, I feel like I've 809 00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:15,520 lost everything, feel like the fire is gone. 810 00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:17,880 I don't even have a burning ember. 811 00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:24,400 The glory has faded by the McGee in my life. 812 00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:28,000 I go through the ritual and the calisthenics of coming to church 813 00:53:28,280 --> 00:53:29,960 and the motions of raising hands. 814 00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:35,040 You hear me tonight, ladies and gentlemen, everything that you 815 00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:37,080 may feel that. You are without a. 816 00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:43,520 Sin, you never have to be without prayer. 817 00:53:45,640 --> 00:53:50,840 Someone say that's up to me. It's up to me. 818 00:53:51,680 --> 00:53:52,840 Don't get me wrong, I understand. 819 00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:55,320 I know the path, I know the battle, I know the discipline. 820 00:53:56,120 --> 00:54:00,480 I know the sundry of things that call for our attention, our life 821 00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:04,760 that we need to do, need to look after, understand all of that. 822 00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:18,210 But if you'll finish praying rather than quit praying, if 823 00:54:18,210 --> 00:54:21,810 you'll finish praying, it's going to be a little 824 00:54:21,810 --> 00:54:25,130 enlightenment that starts to come going to sense a little 825 00:54:25,130 --> 00:54:30,930 fire, going to sense a little cloud, the glories going to fill 826 00:54:31,610 --> 00:54:34,450 the house. So my challenge to you tonight, 827 00:54:34,450 --> 00:54:36,210 and I know my wife said it and and it's good. 828 00:54:36,210 --> 00:54:39,570 I, I'd rather you come every night and spend some time than 829 00:54:39,570 --> 00:54:43,800 spend no time. But I challenge you this week 830 00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:48,760 that when you're here and you feel like you're done, stay just 831 00:54:48,760 --> 00:54:54,480 a little longer. When you finish the focus prayer 832 00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:59,400 sheet for the evangelist, grab a spiritual warfare book and say, 833 00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:06,440 I'm not finished yet. Sometimes I see Kenny just, I 834 00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:08,360 think sometimes this is just my imagination. 835 00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:16,840 OK, Raven, there's the devil. He's listening in 5432. 836 00:55:18,080 --> 00:55:23,120 They're done already. Oh. 837 00:55:23,120 --> 00:55:24,760 The. Things I got planned for them 838 00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:29,840 today, I'm going to play with their family. 839 00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:34,840 I'm going to meddle in their job. 840 00:55:40,680 --> 00:55:48,600 I want him to sit over there and go 54321 and be like, what? 841 00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:55,200 What? They're still going. 54321 What? 842 00:55:55,800 --> 00:55:59,080 What, They're still talking to him? 843 00:55:59,320 --> 00:56:02,800 54321. What they're praying over their 844 00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:09,200 family 54321 What they're praying for new converts 54321. 845 00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:13,360 What they're praying for those that have a terminal illness 846 00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:16,720 54321 What they're praying for their church. 847 00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:26,160 If you want what they had, learn how it came. 848 00:56:33,240 --> 00:56:35,160 The altar is open tonight, folks. 849 00:56:36,240 --> 00:56:39,240 We would do good just to spend a little season before we exit 850 00:56:39,240 --> 00:56:48,600 this place saying I. Want the fire and I want the. 851 00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:53,880 Cloud. So I'm going to follow the 852 00:56:53,880 --> 00:56:59,040 prescription of Scripture that prayer has always been the 853 00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:03,840 primer for the fire. Prayer has always been the 854 00:57:03,840 --> 00:57:08,080 primer for the cloud. And I'm going to say by my 855 00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:15,200 prayer, God, you belong. Here, God, you belong here.